Mixing Colours
by Genril
Summary: Two separate shades that just need a good stir. White Rose.


**Mixing Colours**

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><p>With a glass of milk in hand, Ruby quietly shut the door behind her, returning from a trip to the cafeteria. It had taken her up until yesterday to realise, but Beacon always had late night snacks laid out for students. There wasn't a crazy amount of choice; cereals, crackers, plain biscuits, and bread to make toast, but all Ruby wanted anyway was her milk.<p>

As Ruby padded barefoot towards her bunk she caught sight of Weiss folding her clothes and placing them in her drawer. Ruby coughed, trying her best to conceal the class with awkward arm and hand positions, but already Weiss had seen the milk.

"You're _not_ going to bed with that," she said through gritted teeth. "Not after last night."

There was a small laugh from her sister's side of the room, disguised as an attempt to clear her throat. When Ruby turned, Yang was simply brushing her hair, and Blake was lighting incense. Both had straight faces.

"I'm not going to do it again, I swear."

Weiss finished placing her last item of clothing away, slamming the drawer a little too hard. "You're drinking that here and now, or you're not drinking it at all."

Ruby should've realised that Weiss still upset about the previous night, where the red-clad huntress had fallen asleep still holding her full glass. Although she managed to sleep through the cold invasion seeping through her sheets, the milk had soaked through the entire mattress.

And onto Weiss.

Her shrieking woke everyone, last of all Ruby, who sat up just in time to see Myrtenaster appear out of her nowhere through her mattress. Now there was a large hole in her bed for her to pour more milk down, should she choose to.

"At least it was just milk," Yang said, holding herself back from cackling. "You thought she'd wet the bed."

Yang was defending Ruby in her own way, but it wasn't helping much as Weiss was clenching her fists and stomping towards her.

"Just drink it!" She reached for the glass, and directed it to Ruby's mouth whilst Ruby was still holding it.

She was almost drowned by her drink, as Weiss refused to let her breathe until the entire thing was finished. Ruby was halfway when Blake chimed in:

"Calm down, Weiss… there's no use crying over it."

Milk sprayed everywhere as Ruby laughed and choked at the same time. "Spilt milk! Ha, good one." She wiped her mouth using her arm, as Weiss dragged her hand down her own soaked face. "Oops, sorry Weiss."

If Weiss looked less than amused earlier, she was utterly pissed off now. Reaching out, Ruby brushed some of the milk droplets Weiss had missed out of her hair. Remarkably, Weiss didn't stop her, but nor did she look comfortable either. She continued to comb her fingers through her fringe, enjoying the silkiness and the opportunity to even touch the girl.

"Okay, sis. I'm sure she's dairy-free now," Yang sniggered, dragging the brush through her golden mane of hair a final time. Instead of putting the brush somewhere normal, she tossed it to the floor along with a pile of her unpacked belongings.

Ruby pulled her hand back, suddenly warm and embarrassed. She leapt up to her bunk, pulling back the covers to see the hole Weiss had left in her bed. Most impressively, she could see right through, which was impressive for a rapier.

"I can see you," she sang, spying through the hole Weiss as crawled into bed.

"Can you see this, as well?" Weiss smirked, giving her the middle finger, aiming it at the hole she created.

"Yeah! I can. So _cool_."

Once again, Ruby heard stemmed laughter from her sister. "I think you missed the point there, sis."

She shrugged it off, settling into bed.

As per their nightly tradition it was Blake who turned the lights off, since she could actually see in the dark.

"Goodnight everyone," she said, sending the room into darkness.

Ruby lay flat, squirming every so often against her bed. Although she found it funny at first, the hole was as irritating as crumbs between the sheets. She flipped onto her side, which was a lot better, but it still didn't help her drift off.

Even worse, after what seemed like hours of listening to the soft breathing of her team, Ruby was no more relaxed and thanks to her force feeding of milk, she possibly needed the bathroom.

Scuttling down her bed, she tried to get comfortable, but there was no use. Tonight she was nocturnal.

The room was dark, but she could still see most of her sister's features when she peeked under her sheet canopy.

Ruby sighed. More time past, and still she was bored and wide awake.

From her bunk, she couldn't see Blake, who must've been far across the other side of her bed. Instead, Ruby dragged her body across the mattress, leaning over her bed, the blood rushing to her head as she watched her partner sleep.

It was the most peaceful Ruby had seen the girl; sleeping on her front, her luscious hair sprawled across the pillow. She couldn't help but smile at seeing Weiss with her guard down.

Well, if she couldn't sleep, she might as well people watch. After a few minutes Blake rolled onto her side also, so that she was facing Ruby, but other than that no one moved and inch.

After rolling her neck around, Ruby went back to her staring at her partner. She leaned precariously over her bunk, but perhaps too much, as she flipped over completely.

Landing with an audible _thunk, _she startled both Blake and Weiss enough for them to rise up and stare at her.

Rubbing her eyes, Weiss frowned at her. "Ruby, what the hell?"

"Sorry," Ruby whispered. "I fell outta bed."

Not wanting to cause any more of a scene, Ruby jumped back onto her bed, using Weiss's as leverage. The edge of her bed felt different - more angled, she realised as she threw all her weight onto the side.

And half of the ropes holding her bed up snapped, and for a second time Ruby fell.

Weiss shrieked, and with reflexes quicker than Ruby's Semblance, she flattened her body as far down into her bed as it would go. The bed swung like a pendulum, missing the fencer by inches, stopped only by Ruby's face as she clambered up from the floor when it swung back.

By now, everyone was _most definitely_ awake, including Yang who launched herself off her bed to cradle Ruby. "Woah sis! That was utter… _bed_lam."

"Not funny Yang," Blake scolded, walking over to the light. "Are you alright?"

Ruby tentatively touched her nose, her fingers came away bloody. Even worse, her bed was still half-suspended in the air beside Weiss. _Scratch that_, Ruby caught sight of Weiss's pale face yet flustered cheeks. Making her angry was far, far worse.

"You nearly killed me!"

Had she not woken Weiss up from falling, she might sat up at the wrong time. Since she was awake however, Weiss had avoided any collision at all.

"I'm sorry, Wei- ow, ow, ow!" Yang mercilessly pinched Ruby's bleeding nose with a tissue. Fortunately, as she forced herself to twitch her nose, nothing seemed broken. Although it didn't mean it hurt any less.

Blake was rifling through her belongings, drawing Gambol Shroud as if there was a Grimm in the room. "We'll need to cut down the other side of your bed and lower it to the floor."

Setting Ruby aside, Yang grabbed a corner of the bed, and a reluctant Weiss followed suit. Ruby took the last corner by the window, but not before she shoved the tissue up her nose to stem the flow, refusing to make any sort of eye contact with any one.

It took a lot of manoeuvring and hushed orders, but Ruby's bed was finally on the floor at the foot of Weiss's, and the scythe-wielder even managed to gain some smiles from the joke that it was all a part of 'team building'.

As Blake crawled into bed from turning off the light once again, she held her stare with Ruby, who waved bashfully. If Blake had a problem or anything to say, she kept it to herself. Ruby would ask her in the morning if she remembered.

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><p>Although sleep must've finally come to her, she couldn't remember dozing off, and most of her night felt like it was devoted to tossing and turning. During one point in the night she opened her eyes and was greeted to a different angle of the room, and Ruby thought she was somewhere completely foreign.<p>

She didn't know what time it was, but light was pouring through the sides of the thick curtains enough to tell her it was a reasonable point in the day to wake up.

_And it's a Saturday!_ Ruby stretched out, yawning loudly.

With her bed at the foot of Weiss's, it meant that with a deliberately long stretch to her left, she could probably scare the life out of the other girl by grabbing her ankle.

Usually Ruby didn't have a death wish, but the longer she lay there contemplating how amusing it would be to give Weiss a shock, the more she wanted to do it. Some might call her a fool, others much worse things, but there was something about teasing the slightly older girl that really appealed to Ruby.

She drew her blankets up like a cape before sitting up, as the air was just cool enough to make her shiver while just in her pyjamas. Quiet as a mouse, Ruby leaned upon the footboard and used her other hand to walk her fingers up the covers and onto the sleeping girl's foot.

Unconsciously Weiss shifted into a fetal position. Ruby bit back a giggle. This time she sat upon the footboard, running a limp hand across the ivory-haired girl's ankle bone.

Behind her, came an breathy laugh, no louder than a sigh.

_Wham! _

Before Ruby could so much as turn, whoever it was had smacked her with her pillow, and she landed on all fours. Across Weiss.

The girl didn't scream, but her eyes grew large at the sight of Ruby on top of her like some sort of predator.

"I can explain," Ruby choked, suddenly distracted by flash of blonde hopping back to her bunk. "Yang pushed me."

"And a good morning to you too, sis." Yang stretched out so much that Ruby could hear joints cracking, but she remained firmly under the sheets. "I've been in bed all this time, so I wouldn't believe her."

Narrowing her eyes, Weiss looked back and forth between the sisters. "Unfortunately, with both of your reputations… I don't know _who_ to believe."

Ignoring the 'you're not welcome to sit on my bed' glare, Ruby sat back on her haunches. "Believe me! Your _partner_!"

"My Semblance isn't speed," Yang explained, with a cunning grin. "So I couldn't possibly push Ruby and get back to my bed in time."

Weiss looked back to Ruby expectantly. "What's your excuse?"

Ruby bit her lip. "The bed hit me so hard last night that I'm still dazed and confused."

By the looks of it, Weiss wasn't buying it. It was technically half true, and Ruby's nosebleed and grounded bed was more than proof enough.

"You seem no different to your usual self," Weiss observed in a clipped tone. "I am with Yang on this one."

Ruby's jaw dropped. "But… we're _partners!"_

She gave her best pitiful, defeated look, which was perfect for gaining sympathy while she was still at a 'cutesy' age, as Yang had often referred to it as. She held Weiss's gaze until her eyes fell upon the light pink scar that adorned the girl's left eye. Whilst Ruby was always aware that it was there, she'd never seen it so up close, uncovered by makeup.

Weiss's cool stare quickly shifted to a self-conscious covering of her face with her hands, and she let out a huff.

Ruby had looked at the scar a few seconds too long.

Underneath her, Weiss had resorted to lying down again, this time on her left side with the edge of the duvet tucked tightly under her chin held there by scrunched up fists.

"Guys it's not even eight yet," Blake cut in. Ruby didn't even know she had woken up, with inarguably the best hearing, and Ruby's stealth issues, it should have been obvious.

"Sorry Blake I'll be quiet," Ruby said, lowering her voice.

She turned back to Weiss, unable to see much past the hair that had fallen into her face, but as she tilted her head, she caught sight of tightly closed eyes and a frown.

"Come on Weiss, I wasn't staring out of convulsion," Ruby whispered, edging closer to her face. "You know I think your scar is cool." When even the slightest grunts of reply proved impossible for the girl to muster, Ruby crawled over Weiss, trailing her own bedcovers with her. "I'm also sorry for scaring you this morning, and doubly sorry for my bed nearly killing you."

With her head centimetres from Weiss's pillow, she dared not rest her head properly until she knew she was forgiven. After an eternity, Ruby was greeted by one beautiful blue eye, and Weiss shifted back to give Ruby more room.

The prolonged hovering of her head had made her neck sore, and Ruby let her head drop to the pillow like an anchor, instinctively inhaling the scent of its owner as she did so.

"You're not under any of the covers," Weiss pointed out, eyes closed again.

"It's fine," Ruby smiled, pulling her own over her body. "I've got mine here."

A swift tug of the blankets under her nearly had Ruby rolling off of a bed, but she caught herself. "No you idiot, if you lie on mine I'll not be able to cover myself properly… just get in."

_She's inviting me in? _Trying to pass off her surprise with a casual shrug, Ruby crawled under the same sheets as Weiss. The difference in warmth was like comparing a lit match to a bonfire, and she felt Weiss shiver when her cool hands accidently brushed her arm.

As if hearing her previous thoughts, Weiss turned to lie on her right side so that she and Ruby weren't facing awkwardly. "If I let you stay in here, you've got to be still and go to sleep for a few more hours, okay?"

Ruby nodded against the pillow, forgetting Weiss couldn't see. "Yep!"

She curled her hands into her chest to warm them up more, staring at the snowy coloured hair that she was almost lying on until she finally fell into an undisturbed sleep.

* * *

><p>Breakfast times were always later on a weekend, meaning Team RWBY could laze around and get ready at a leisurely pace than that of a weekday. Ruby only awoke when Weiss departed from her bed, and despite an extra two hours of sleep, she could've done with more.<p>

Finally in the cafeteria queue, Ruby was unsure how Yang was so far in front, despite everyone arriving at the same time. With her fists clenched, Ruby craned her neck to see over the shoulder of the person in front, counting a whole ten people between Yang and herself. It amazed but simultaneously annoyed her.

From behind, Blake placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place. "I've been meaning to ask… is everything okay, Ruby? You seem more restless than usual."

She waved off the comment. "Of course! It was probably just a full moon or something last night… I've heard it's harder to sleep when there is one."

Blake laughed uncertainly, lowering her voice with her next words. "I caught you watching Weiss sleep."

Ruby froze. Blake's choice of words suggested some form of secrecy, and Ruby didn't keep secrets from her team. "You caught me doing nothing. You _may_ have seen me, spotted me, observed, and witnessed… but _caught_?"

_Oh god, she knows I'm a freak._

To avoid any signs of weakness, the red-hooded girl prattled on until Blake backed out of the conversation entirely. It wasn't hard, as the important decision of what to eat had to be addressed by both girls, and Blake let it slide once they were reaching for their trays.

It would be a lie to say that Blake's observation hadn't unnerved her however. Damn her acute awareness of just about everything!

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><p><strong>AN: Late nights of my own brought me this. Just a creativity shift from... _essays?_ *shudder***


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